Altas Quintas

It was my pleasure today to visit the winery of Altas Quintas - 60 hectares of vines producing around half a million bottles of wine a year - nestling at 600m of altitude near Alegrete, in the foothills of the Serra da São Mamede Natural Park.
Of course, wine geeks like to go on and on about terroir, which the wikipeople define as "...the set of all environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, unique environment contexts and farming practices, when the crop is grown in a specific habitat". It's the sense of "place" that you can, sometimes, taste in a wine.

The terroir at Altas Quintas is special - the altitude, the particular microclimate in that particular area, the soil type - these lead to wines of especially high acid levels - and to particularly elegant wines of which I've long been a fan - sometimes you'll see them in restaurants, sometimes in supermarkets, and in many fine wine shops - if you get the chance, try them.


Having made an appointment (always best), I was expecting to buy my wine and be on my way, but I was treated to a small tour of the winery - the huge fermentation barrels in oak and stainless steel, the bottling room etc etc - and even to a taste direct from the barrels of the 2015 Alfrocheiro (a bit bready, but light and stylish even now), and the 2015 Syrah (a newborn infant, but you could taste the potential) - I was told these would probably be released in a few years under the "Mensagem" (message) series - I'm a Syrah fan and several cases of this have my name on them.

I bought...

• a case of Obsessão 2007 - a wine I've only ever had once, at a tasting a couple of years go, and the principle target of this visit - that's in the decanter as I type - the first sip was lovely - tasting note later this evening
• a case of Reserva-DO 2007 - the 2005 was a very fine wine and I expect this to be even better
• a case of Mensagem de Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 - a nice wine with a light and delicate touch

There's something special about buying wine direct from the producer rather than from a retailer, and it's something I like to do as often as possible - when we drink this wine we'll be reminded of the gentle, cold breeze of this November day, of the views over the vines to the hills of the Serra, Sara's smiling face, the smells in the barrel room... wine is so much more than liquid in a glass.

Money duly exchanged for nectar we headed home.





Altas Quintas on the web
GPS: 39°16'12.0"N 7°22'21.0"W